


Eugene's Little Princess

by Untherius



Series: The Sun-Bearer Chronicles [7]
Category: Tangled (2010)
Genre: Childbirth, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-17
Updated: 2012-07-17
Packaged: 2017-11-10 03:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/461824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Untherius/pseuds/Untherius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a joyous day for the Corona Royal family.  Eugene becomes a father and Rapunzel becomes a sister...and only minutes apart!  Nothing in his life since meeting Rapunzel had been ordinary, and his newborn child is no exception.  He should have known better by now than to expect any baby born of Rapunzel to be normal...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eugene's Little Princess

Eugene paced back and forth in the hallway near Rapunzel's suite. It was really HIS and Rapunzel's suite, but he still considered that a technicality. Though they'd been married slightly more than a year, half of which they'd spent on their honeymoon, and though he'd lived in the Palace for three years before that, Eugene was still adapting to being Prince and an official member of the Royal Family. Often, the whole thing seemed more than a little surreal to him.

It didn't help that she'd done, and continued to do, all the decorating thanks in no small part to a plethora of wall and ceiling space. He didn't begrudge her that one bit. She was many times the artist he was and the place had been literally made just for her. Nor did it help that Eugene was busy enough that he was usually only there to sleep with his wife—both the type involving and not involving actual sleep.

A scream came from behind their closed door and Eugene cringed. He looked over at his father-in-law Harold, King of Corona, who was visibly even more frazzled than Eugene felt. A similar cry from the Royal suite reminded him of why.

Eugene sighed. “How long is this going to take?” he demanded, throwing his hands up in a gesture of frustration.

“I have no idea,” said Harold.

“But you've been through this before.”

“Yes, but it's been more than twenty years and...” He was interrupted by more screaming. He visibly recoiled, then continued. “...they say every pregnancy is different, _and ___it's Elsa's first, _and ___Liesel's second, _and ___there's the age discrepancy, so I have no idea.”

Eugene opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a scream from Rapunzel. He exhaled heavily. “This is driving me crazy!”

A scream issued from Liesel.

Harold exhaled. “I seriously doubt our wives are much enjoying themselves either. And might I remind you...again...that my wife _and ___my daughter are both in childbirth at the _same time ___. I don't know of many fathers who can say that.”

Both men paced some more.

“Furthermore,” continued the King, “we're fresh out of magic golden flowers.”

“Well...more or less,” said Eugene.

“More or less? Son, its power is quite firmly sequestered within my daughter.” He turned to face Eugene. “And within _you ___,” he added, nearly poking the younger man in the chest. “No one knows how to extract it and all efforts to find more have utterly failed. I'm still more worried about my wife than about yours, considering what happened last time.”

“I suppose that's fair enough,” Eugene conceeded. “Though I rather like the whole...glowy thing.”

Harold chuckled. “I wish I could agree with you.”

“Oh, come on,” said Eugene, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Don't you find it the least bit charming?”

“Well,” the King havered, “it's...interesting, I'll say that much.”

Their conversation was interrupted by more screaming.

“I should be in there with her,” said Eugene.

“I know.”

“Remind me again why we're not?”

“Besides that the midwives won't let us?”

“I still think you should have issued a Royal decree or something,” said Eugene flatly.

“Eugene, you know full well it's not that simple. Besides, traditions are all too often stronger than law.”

More screams issued from both chambers, causing both men to cringe yet again. If Eugene had been trying to keeping track of that, he would have lost count long ago.

“I don't care about tradition,” said Eugene.

“You don't mean that.”

Eugene paused. “You're right...I don't. But I almost wish I did.”

Harold stepped over and placed a hand on his son-in-law's shoulder. “Doing right by yourself and your people doesn't get any easier. But I suppose you already know that, else you wouldn't have been taking your responsibilities so seriously. And don't tell me it was just because you were afraid I'd have you executed.”

“I have to admit, it did cross my mind more than once.”

Harold raised an eyebrow.

Eugene chuckled. “But Rapunzel has a way of weaving her way thoroughly into one's heart.”

“That, she does,” said Harold with a smile.

“ _GET OUT! ___” bellowed Rapunzel from behind her door. “Get out, get out, get out, get out, get _OUT!! NOW!!! ___” she shrieked.

Both men's heads jerked around and trained on the source. Rapunzel's door flew open and two frazzled-looking women scurried from the room, shutting the door quickly behind them, expressions of terror on their faces. No sooner had the door shut, than a loud WHUMPH sounded from within the room, accompanied by a strong, door-rattling THUMP and a brief flash of light around the door frame.

“ _GET BACK IN HERE! ___” yelled Rapunzel.

The two women exhaled resignedly, then quickly complied. 

Harold turned to Eugene, who was still staring at the door, an expression of surprise, alarm, and concern plastered to his face. “What was that about wanting to be in there with her?” said the King. 

Eugene relaxed a little, then exhaled. “It's a good thing I've given up on leading anything remotely resembling a normal life.” Then after a moment, “Are you sure we're paying them enough?” 

“Probably not,” admitted Harold. “Remind me to make a note of that.” 

“Just a note?” 

Harold raised an eyebrow. 

“If you don't pay them a bonus,” said Eugene firmly, “then I'll do it myself.” 

Harold smiled and began to speak. 

A baby's cry from the Queen's chamber drew both men's attention. Another from Rapunzel's drew it back again. They turned toward each other and shared a strong man-hug. Soon, the door to the Royal suite opened and a woman stepped out. A moment later, another emerged from the Princess' room. 

“Your Majesty?” said one. 

“Your Highness?” said the other. 

Eugene and the King clasped hands firmly— _very ___firmly—before turning to see to their wives...and their newborn babies.

***** 

Eugene stepped through the door into the suite he shared with his wife, the Crown Princess of Corona. He barely noticed the heavy scorch marks on the walls and furniture. His attention was focused on two figures lying in their bed amid the charred remains of what had probably been a couple of sheets and a down comforter. One was his wife, her brown, orange-tinged hair falling attractively over her shoulders and a smile spread across her face. The other was someone Eugene was very eager, and terrified, to meet. 

He stepped over to the side of the bed, his eyes flicking back and forth between the woman he loved and the child she held. 

Rapunzel looked up at her husband. “We have a little girl, Eugene,” she said, then looked down at their daughter. “Isn't she beautiful?” 

Eugene reached out and ever so gently stroked his daughter's brown hair. “She's the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen,” he said, meaning every syllable from the depths of his heart. 

“Would you like to hold her?” 

Eugene's face lit up and Rapunzel's smile spread even wider. He reached out with the other hand while his wife gave him instructions. 

“Your Highnesses?” said the midwife standing near them. “Is there anything else you need?” 

“No,” said Rapunzel, “I think we're fine. If I change my mind, I'll yell.” 

Eugene suppressed a snicker, Rapunzel shot him her hairy-eyeball look, and Eugene just grinned. 

“Yes, your Royal Highness,” said the midwife as she and her assistant retreated, bowing, from the room. 

Eugene returned his attention to his family and with trepidation, took the still-naked child in his arms. Then his smile fell. 

“What is it?” asked Rapunzel, a note of concern in her voice. 

“She's...” 

“Warm?” interrupted Rapunzel. “Yes, she is.” 

“Is she...does she...?” 

“Yes. Why do you think she's not wrapped up in a blanket?” 

“My life is officially weird.” 

“I thought your life became weird eleven months ago.” 

“You mean that morning by the river.” 

Rapunzel nodded. “It was rather cute and funny and awkward and tense all at the same time.” 

Eugene chuckled at the memory of the day he discovered he shared one of his wife's interesting abilities. “Actually, I'm pretty sure it was weird from the moment you clobbered me over the head in your tower. It's just been getting incrementally weirder since. But I wouldn't trade a single moment of it for all the islands in all the worlds.” 

“Awww...” 

Eugene looked down at his daughter just as she opened her little green eyes and locked them on his own. His heart abruptly melted. 

“Eugene?” asked Rapunzel quizzically. 

“I'm in love,” he responded after a moment. “And I don't even know her name,” he said, without taking his eyes off the new life he and Rapunzel had created together. 

“I'd like to name her Sophia.” 

“That's perfect...just like her.” He kissed little Sophia on the forehead, then gazed at her some more. 

“Eugene?” said Rapunzel, a slight giggle in her voice. 

“Yes, honey?” he replied without taking his eyes off his daughter. 

“You're glowing,” she teased. 

“I'm sure I am,” he responded warmly as he smiled even more at Sophia. Then his eyebrow went up. “Is she...?” 

“Wow,” said Rapunzel, looking intently at her daughter. “She's doing it too!” 

Eugene handed her back to her mother, whom he kissed tenderly on the lips. They both went back to looking at Sophia, the three of them glowing softly. 

“She's ours, Eugene,” said Rapunzel after a moment. “We made her...you and me.” 

“Well...mostly you.” 

“But you helped.” 

“But you did almost all the work.” 

“Give yourself a little credit,” she said wryly, “say, twelve percent.” 

“Twelve?” 

“I suppose an argument could be made for fifteen.” 

Eugene cocked an eyebrow at her and grinned. 

Rapunzel peered at her husband for a moment. “Eugene...no,” she said sternly. 

“What?” he said defensively. 

“I know what you're thinking and if you had _any ___idea how sore I am down there....”

“But...won't you be recovered by morning?” 

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Of _course ___I'll be recovered by morning. But that's not the point!”

“Then what _is ___the point?”

“I've just had a baby, Eugene... _our ___baby. _And ___I'm absolutely _exhausted! ___”

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. 

“Yes?” said Rapunzel. 

The door opened and a woman stepped tentatively into the room. “I'm sorry to bother you, your Highnesses,” she said. 

“No, no, that's alright,” said Rapunzel in her typically disarming way. “You know good and well we won't pull out your fingernails or anything quite so dramatic. Please continue.” 

The woman collected herself. “His Majesty the King charged me to inform you that her Majesty the Queen...your mother...” 

Eugene and Rapunzel looked on in rapt attention. The last time Liesel had been pregnant—with Rapunzel, no less—it had nearly killed both mother and child. That fact had been a near-constant worry throughout the duration of her just-resolved pregnancy. 

“...is doing well,” said the woman. 

Eugene and Rapunzel sighed in relief. 

“And you have a sister, your Highness,” she added. 

“Thank-you,” said Eugene. 

“You don't know how good it is to hear that,” added Rapunzel. “Oh, and I apologize for screaming at you.” 

The woman nodded, then curtsied and withdrew. 

“Oh,” said Eugene abruptly, “I almost forgot.” 

He opened the pouch he wore on his belt that he used to carry things like scrap parchment, a couple of make-shift pencils, and a few other odds and ends. He pulled out a small, narrow bundle of something wrapped in silk cloth and presented it to Rapunzel. 

“It's...not remotely as good of a gift as what you've just given me,” he said, indicating their baby, “but I hope you like it anyway.” 

“Oh, Eugene, you shouldn't have,” said Rapunzel, with genuine appreciation. 

She carefully unwrapped it, which was a bit awkward with one arm occupied with her baby. When the cloth containing the contents fell away, Rapunzel gasped in delight. There lay two six-inch hair pins, made of a white gold-silver alloy and each mounted with a marble-sized, black, white-streaked, irregularly-shaped stone. 

“Oh, Eugene!” she purred. “These are beautiful!” She cocked her head inquisitively. “Did you make them?” 

“I did,” he replied, trying unsuccessfully to keep the pride from his voice. 

“I don't recognize the stones,” she said, peering at the decorations in question. Then she glanced up at Eugene. “What are they?” she asked quizzically. 

“Obsidian.” 

“Obsidian? Where'd you find that?” 

“I picked it up...oh, about eight months ago.” 

Rapunzel's eyebrows went up. “You collected this on our honeymoon?” 

Eugene nodded. 

“Oh, Eugene!” she squealed. “I love them! You're so thoughtful.” 

She bent her head down and Eugene gently gathered her hair and twisted it into a bun. It was sweat-soaked and a bit stringy, but he'd handled it like that before. In fact, he'd handled it in practically every condition imaginable—wet, dry, sticky, oily, full of sticks and leaves and bugs, straight, post-braid wavy, brushed, un-brushed, and full of intimidating tangles. Then he took the pins and secured her hair. She straightened up and gazed at him for a moment before he bent down to kiss her and then his daughter. 

“You're beautiful,” he said to her. He looked at his daughter again. “And so are you.” Both girls smiled back at him and Rapunzel sighed. “This has been a very good day,” he added as he kissed them both once more. 

“Yes, yes it has,” she agreed. 

_*****_

Two relatively sleepless days later, when both mothers were feeling up to it, the King and they collectively decided it was time to present their newborn children to the populace. Both families met in the King's study that morning.  
Harold and Liesel were already there when Eugene and Rapunzel arrived. Everyone beamed at everyone else...Eugene and Rapunzel literally, something to which Rapunzel's parents still apparently hadn't completely adapted.  
Rapunzel introduced little Sophia and Liesel introduced little Elsebeth. 

Liesel passed her daughter to her father so she could hold her granddaughter. Rapunzel passed Sophia, clad in a lightweight dress and nothing else, to Liesel. 

“Oh, honey, she's gorgeous! And she looks just like you,” cooed Liesel. Then she frowned a little. “She's... _warm ___... _very ___warm. Does she have a fever?”

“No, Mama,” said Rapunzel. 

Liesel looked sharply at her elder daughter. “So she's...like you?” 

Rapunzel nodded. “Yes, Mama. It was hard to be sure when she was still inside me. Now that she's born...now it's clear. Yes, she has it too...all of it. May I hold my sister?” she asked, changing the subject. 

Harold handed Elsebeth, wrapped in a blanket, to his elder daughter as Liesel continued. 

“So...she's...inherited _all ___of it?” said Liesel, persistently following the previous topic of discussion.

“Not...exactly,” said Rapunzel tentatively, as she rocked her baby sister. At Liesel's raised eyebrow, she continued. “I don't know if she shares mine, or if part of it calved off and became part of her the moment I gave her life...you remember what I said about that weird feeling I had when I conceived her?” 

Liesel nodded as Rapunzel handed her sister to Eugene and Liesel her granddaughter to Harold. 

“I think that was some of the sun-blood attaching to my baby. I have no idea how. It's...just a feeling I have.” 

Harold looked nervously from his granddaughter to his daughter. “Will she be able to do what _you ___do?” he asked.

Rapunzel shrugged. “I have no idea. I assume so, but she's only two days old. I'm the first of my kind...I guess...let alone one who's had a baby. So I'm not sure yet if that means she'd second of my kind. We might know when she throws her first tantrum, we might not. We'll just have to regard it as another part of parenthood and raise her with that in mind.” 

“So you might have to...?” 

“Fire-train her?” said Eugene. “We might.” 

“What if she hurts someone?” 

Rapunzel sighed. “I've been a little worried about that, too. It's like...uh...me, all over again. I think we're going to have to...what's that expression...oh, yes, play it by ear.” 

“She does glow, though,” said Eugene. 

Rapunzel's parents looked sharply at Eugene, that at their elder daughter, then at their granddaughter. Liesel tittered. “Oh, my,” she said. “Are you...sure? You weren't imagining things?” 

“Oh, we're sure,” said Eugene. 

“Quite sure,” echoed Rapunzel. 

Harold smiled broadly and sighed a little. 

Liesel looked at him. “Harold, dear, are you tearing up?” she teased. 

Harold nodded. 

Rapunzel looked at her mother. “Our men are just big softies, aren't they, Mama?” 

Liesel smiled. “They are indeed.” 

“You know,” said Harold, still choked up, “I could die right now and be a very happy man.” 

“Please don't,” pleaded Rapunzel. 

“Oh, don't worry, my daughter,” said Harold, “I very much mean to live long enough to see these two beauties...” He indicated the babies he and his son-in-law held in their arms. “...grow up to be the fine young women I know they'll be, marry, and have children of their own.” 

“And we for our part,” said Rapunzel, “aim to do everything in our power to help you stay young.” 

Everyone chuckled at that as Harold and Eugene handed the babies back to their respective mothers. 

“They're so beautiful,” said Harold, a tear finally coming to his eye as he put an arm around his wife. 

“Yes,” said Eugene, “yes, they are.” He sighed contentedly, the glow returning to his skin. After far, far too long, Eugene finally, truly felt in his heart that he really belonged to a family. It may be a strange family, he mused, but it was his. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thus concludes the Sun-Bearer Chronicles. Eugene and Rapunzel's story is far from over, however. They both have good, long lives ahead of them. Over the many years they'll spend together, they'll share further experiences and adventures of which they would never have dreamed.


End file.
